Your Arm's Too Short to Fight with Thomas Pynchon

[kelber at mindspring.com]

A friend of mine once outraged me by dismissing my idol Dostoyevsky as a cheap crime writer.  You can reduce D or TRP to the pulp elements of their novels, but there's little for the reader to gain by doing so.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>Sent: Apr 30, 2008 11:48 AM
>To: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
>Cc: Pynchon Liste <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: Your Arm's Too Short to Fight with Thomas Pynchon
>
>On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 5:56 AM, Michael Bailey
><michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>>  David Morris wrote, weeks and weeks ago, in re CoL49:
>>
>> > It's really more a mystery than a detective story, but the two are  closely related.  After all, GR is prety much the same thing, just  much more elaborate.
>>
>> but as a detective story, it is unsatisfying.  Isn't it?  It has some of the hallmarks but never resolves,  That - I suggest - is because those elements were put in to enhance the fun, not chosen as framework and basis.
>>
>> the fine writing, the transcendent moments, come not so much from "making a case" as a detective would do, but in describing the way Oedipa perceives reality
>>
>> the quest always turns toward collecting more data, thinking more refined thoughts, listening to people to whom one has never listened before - not to confronting people or turning guilty parties over to authorities...in fact, turns towards thought more than action
>>
>> The Crying of Lot 49_, is the name of the story. Therefore, why not parse its meaning as that the relating of those events (ie the actual story) _is_  the offering to the reader of the Lot of information that will reveal further clues? ...the price being attention, outside research, and so forth...
>>
>
>Like Slothrop's quest in GR, Oedipa's is a paranoid's quest.  It
>really is a combination of Mystery and Detective because it seeks to
>understand/expose a cabal/conspiracy that controls present reality
>clandestinely.  It's existence is always a question, hence the seeker
>always is obliged to ask the classic question: "Is it me?"
>
>I do think that COL49 is unsatisfying because, like you say, it never
>resolves, and the action never goes anywhere.  GR is MUCH better.  The
>conspirator's project escapes Their grasp and threatens Their
>existence.  The conspiracy is never fully revealed, but it does
>unquestionably exist.
>
>David Morris